The Warc Prize for Asian Strategy 2011 – All entrants

The Warc Prize for Asian Strategy is a US$5,000 cash prize awarded to the case study that demonstrates the best strategic thinking in the region. The Prize was launched in December 2010. It is open to brand owners and agencies in any discipline.

Citibank is a niche, international bank with 4% market share in Hong Kong and a reputation as a wealth management bank for the Hong Kong Affluent consumer, a segment defined as having assets worth 1.3 million USD or more. View Summary

Citibank is a niche, international bank with 4% market share in Hong Kong and a reputation as a wealth management bank for the Hong Kong Affluent consumer, a segment defined as having assets worth 1.3 million USD or more. Aggressive growth targets mean Citibank needed to turn itself from a niche foreign bank to being the preferred bank of choice for the 1.7m Hong Kong consumers identified as Emerging Affluent (with assets of USD 13,000 to 1.3 million USD). By tapping into deep seated consumer dissatisfaction about banks and real longing for change, the "New Standards. Powered by Citi" campaign aimed to shake up category inertia and persuade the Emerging Affluent to switch to Citibank. The strategic insights developed for the initiative inspired both change in Citibank's products and services and a campaign that incited consumer action. Results exceeded business, branding and advertising targets at a time when competition was fierce, consumers were dis-enfranchised, inertia was heavy, and trust was low.

2

Nescafe 3in1: Bigger than Facebook

Includes video content

Recommended by Warc editors

Trends

Best Practice

Indraneel Guha, Warc Prize for Asian Strategy, Entrant, 2011

In 2009, Nestlé created a microsite for Nescafé 3in1, a brand of instant coffee in Vietnam. It became reasonably popular and reached more than 500,000 visitors. View Summary

In 2009, Nestlé created a microsite for Nescafé 3in1, a brand of instant coffee in Vietnam. It became reasonably popular and reached more than 500,000 visitors. The following year, the company decided to reinvent the site to make it long-term, digital real estate for Nescafé. Following some soul searching, it was realised that a good coffee, such as Nescafé 3in1, sparked conversations. Nescafé 3in1 could now own these conversations via this site. Facebook had long before initiated the idea of online conversations. But Facebook had one weakness - it was full of immature interactions in Vietnam. So Nestlé created cungtrochuyen.com (letstalk.com), which catered to a slightly more mature audience, engaging them with real and relevant conversations about Vietnam. Within a year, the site had surpassed Facebook among 25 to 34-year-olds.

3

Kaya Skin Clinic: Social media case study

Includes video content

Recommended by Warc editors

Trends

Best Practice

Aditi Chada, Warc Prize for Asian Strategy, Entrant, 2011

Kaya Skin Clinic is a chain of premium cosmetic dermatology clinics in India that caters to a niche target group (TG). View Summary

Kaya Skin Clinic is a chain of premium cosmetic dermatology clinics in India that caters to a niche target group (TG). A large section of this TG spends a lot of time online, compared with traditional forms of media. This group of people also relies heavily on word of mouth and peer reviews before choosing a brand and making a decision to undertake a specific service. When it comes to choosing a skincare service, 'trust' plays a very important role in the decision-making process. Kaya decided to leverage the social media space with the objectives of engaging with its target audience by educating and alongside building awareness and trust for the brand. As a result, Kaya is one of the most active brands in its genre in the social media space. Kaya has garnered trust from all its fans and followers and has become their skin consultant online.

4

Kotak Mahindra Bank: Its grt 2b 25

Includes video content

Recommended by Warc editors

Trends

Best Practice

Khushnum Ichhaporia, Warc Prize for Asian Strategy, Entrant, 2011

This case study describes the 25th anniversary campaign of the Indian bank, Kotak Mahindra, designed to enhance the brand's awareness and credibility metrics. View Summary

This case study describes the 25th anniversary campaign of the Indian bank, Kotak Mahindra, designed to enhance the brand's awareness and credibility metrics. A 360-degree campaign - with media activity focused into a high-intensity, five-day burst - targeted both employees and customers. It delivered a significant upward shift on all relevant metrics, positioning the bank as youthful, forward looking and "25 years young".

5

Dutch Mill: Dual insights that turn “same old” into “brand new”

Includes video content

Recommended by Warc editors

Trends

Best Practice

Kamonwan Saenissara, Warc Prize for Asian Strategy, Entrant, 2011

DutchMill is the leader in Thailand's drinking-yoghurts category, a sector which had halved in size over the past decade. View Summary

DutchMill is the leader in Thailand's drinking-yoghurts category, a sector which had halved in size over the past decade. The aim of this campaign was to engage the teenage target audience and arrest the decline of the brand and its category. DutchMill shunned the obvious route - addressing the brand image - and chose to refresh the product with its communications. With a strong insight into its target audience and product, it moved drinking yoghurt from a snack drink to an all-in-one nutritional drink tailor-made for teens. The campaign created 30% sales growth, and expanded the drinking-yoghurts category by 20%.

6

OMO: Say it with kids

Includes video content

Recommended by Warc editors

Trends

Best Practice

Indraneel Guha, Warc Prize for Asian Strategy, Shortlisted, 2011

The Vietnamese celebration of Lunar New Year (Tet) was around the corner. OMO, Unilever's marketing leader detergent brand in Vietnam, wanted to take this opportunity and thank millions of Vietnamese mothers for the great faith they had shown in the brand. View Summary

The Vietnamese celebration of Lunar New Year (Tet) was around the corner. OMO, Unilever's marketing leader detergent brand in Vietnam, wanted to take this opportunity and thank millions of Vietnamese mothers for the great faith they had shown in the brand. OMO's strategy was to "Say it with kids" by encouraging youngsters to grow plants as gifts for their mothers. With OMO's overarching positioning, which was based on a positive outlook about the role of dirt in the development of kids, providing a strategic umbrella, the brand created a branded platform where children could show gratitude to their mothers. In essence, this campaign involved visiting schools to hand out seeds to children and give out advice on how to grow the plants. Virtual plants visible on websites were also created for those children who did not have access to growing spaces. With this campaign OMO managed to achieve its strongest ever brand health with conviction scores moving up by 9% as well as selling 26 million packs in only 12 weeks of activity.

7

Gillette Mach3: W.A.L.S. - Women Against Lazy Stubble (BBDO entry)

Includes video content

Recommended by Warc editors

Trends

Best Practice

Pashyn Sethna, Warc Prize for Asian Strategy, Entrant, 2011

Gillette, the Procter and Gamble brand, wanted to encourage India's men to shave more often, shedding the prevailing "unshaven look" endorsed by role models. View Summary

Gillette, the Procter and Gamble brand, wanted to encourage India's men to shave more often, shedding the prevailing "unshaven look" endorsed by role models. Gillette's strategy was to leverage the views of their wives and girlfriends, as Nielsen research revealed 77% of women preferred clean-shaven men. Gillette created a social movement called "Women Against Lazy Stubble" (WALS) - a publicity- and controversy-generating campaign that, for the first time, gave women a voice in how they would prefer their men to groom. The campaign began as an unbranded Facebook page, and ended up as a national news phenomenon. The campaign was 60% more effective in generating attention than previous Gillette campaigns. It generated four times the expected amount of earned media and publicity, tripled the Mach3's market share and generated an ROI of 1:18.

This case looks at the launch of Stride chewing gum in Japan. Rather than focus on the purely functional, but potentially easily copied, advantage of a gum that has longer-lasting taste, the launch of Stride took advantage of the timelessness of the chewing experience and the young adult target's desire for 'Neta', or sticky content, in their social media conversations. View Summary

This case looks at the launch of Stride chewing gum in Japan. Rather than focus on the purely functional, but potentially easily copied, advantage of a gum that has longer-lasting taste, the launch of Stride took advantage of the timelessness of the chewing experience and the young adult target's desire for 'Neta', or sticky content, in their social media conversations. The result was a campaign promising to be 'beyond expectations' and a strategy built around the thought of 'a gum that lasts beyond time'. The creative strategy utilised a prehistoric apeman character who chews Stride for so long that he 'evolves' into a modern celebrity, alongside continuous social media promotions inviting people to capture the apeman. It resulted in unheralded launch success. A year's worth of product was sold in under three months.

9

Castrol Magnatec: Always ready

Includes video content

Recommended by Warc editors

Trends

Best Practice

Tom Sanders, Warc Prize for Asian Strategy, Entrant, 2011

This case study looks at an advertising campaign from Castrol Magnatec in China that set out to tackle a truth the category would rather ignore – that consumers perceive all engine oils to be identical. View Summary

This case study looks at an advertising campaign from Castrol Magnatec in China that set out to tackle a truth the category would rather ignore – that consumers perceive all engine oils to be identical. The brand was being greatly outspent by the competition, and needed to think innovatively. It sought to speak directly to first-time car owners, and in particular a group it identified as 'Guardians', telling them about the 'Magnatec difference'. The focus was the oil's ability to protect engines as soon as the key turns in the ignition. Sales volume grew 77% in 2010 versus 2009 in the world's biggest and fastest-growing automotive market.

10

BlackBerry: Fun on BlackBerry

Includes video content

Recommended by Warc editors

Trends

Best Practice

Ian Loon, Warc Prize for Asian Strategy, Entrant, 2011

This campaign was designed to reposition the BlackBerry brand as fun and to capture the hearts of potential smartphone buyers in Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines. View Summary

This campaign was designed to reposition the BlackBerry brand as fun and to capture the hearts of potential smartphone buyers in Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines. The strategy was to communicate the brand's "Fun at Your Fingertips" message centred on the most popular pastime for its consumer segment, gaming, with branded games downloadable from a microsite, with supporting online and social media, including a tie-up with Yahoo. The results delivered 10,900 BlackBerry smartphone purchase intenders, with the "cost per purchase intent" falling from US$30 historically to US$11.

There is nothing harder in the Thai insurance business than getting "first timers" to buy insurance. Yet by building on a unique, emotionally-charged positioning as the insurance company that understood the value of human life, Thai Life Insurance devised a way, in a harsh economic climate, to appeal to this tough target group. View Summary

There is nothing harder in the Thai insurance business than getting "first timers" to buy insurance. Yet by building on a unique, emotionally-charged positioning as the insurance company that understood the value of human life, Thai Life Insurance devised a way, in a harsh economic climate, to appeal to this tough target group. The campaign was built on appealing to women as joint decision makers, rather than just targeting men. Research showed that caring for others, especially family members, was a key value for Thai consumers, and the insurance group developed a highly emotional series of creative TV spots to tap into this. This case study cites, as evidence of its success, increased new insurance policies and growth in first-time premiums, as well as raised recognition for the Thai roots of the company.

12

OMO: Rhythm

Includes video content

Recommended by Warc editors

Trends

Best Practice

Indraneel Guha, Warc Prize for Asian Strategy, Entrant, 2011

In 2004, Tide, the biggest P&G detergent brand in the world, was making its mark on the Vietnamese market. View Summary

In 2004, Tide, the biggest P&G detergent brand in the world, was making its mark on the Vietnamese market. Between 2001 and 2003, Tide had grown by 50%, but OMO by only 7.5%. OMO was the market leader, but the surge of Tide was ominous. OMO had to curb Tide's progress. It was the only way to prevent P&G from expanding its detergent portfolio in Vietnam. Unilever's strategy was not just to slow Tide down, but to marginalise it. So it created a large bang, year after year, in a brand rhythm. OMO's brand rhythm followed two beats every year: a massive multimedia campaign that celebrated Vietnam's biggest festival, Lunar New Year, with the people; and a series of smaller initiatives throughout the rest of the year. This rhythm has been repeated for seven consecutive years - and Tide has been marginalized to one of the smallest brands in Vietnam.

Saffola, the oil brand owned by Marico, the leading Indian consumer goods group, had established itself as an oil with expertise in heart care. View Summary

Saffola, the oil brand owned by Marico, the leading Indian consumer goods group, had established itself as an oil with expertise in heart care. However, it was entering newer categories and formats and needed to retain and strengthen its core equity of 'heart-care'. Rather than being seen as a therapeutic brand that individuals with heart conditions had to accept, Saffola needed to increase its relevance and expertise. It developed a new, holistic and intuitive tool, 'Heart's Age', to assess heart health, and as part of the World Heart Day campaign, the brand wanted to break the news to Indian consumers that hearts have ages too and these could be different from a person's real age. The challenge was to demonstrate this in a way that was impactful, engaging and touching. A multi-media campaign was developed through co-creation and consumer-generated content which enabled the brand to reach out and engage with more number of individuals with limited resources. As evidence of the success of its approach, this case study cites results including improvements in brand tracking scores for relevance and expertise, and high user participation rates.

14

Pantene: 14-Day challenge

Includes video content

Recommended by Warc editors

Trends

Best Practice

You Li Hooi, Warc Prize for Asian Strategy, Entrant, 2011

The marketing challenge described in this case study was to make Pantene, the Procter and Gamble hair care brand, top of mind for women in Malaysia as a product which could tackle damaged hair. View Summary

The marketing challenge described in this case study was to make Pantene, the Procter and Gamble hair care brand, top of mind for women in Malaysia as a product which could tackle damaged hair. Pantene's overall strategy in Malaysia was to position itself as a brand which could help women shine in all aspects of their lives, including their hair and personal appearance. This campaign used Malaysian women's interest in Anugerah Skrin (ASK), the country's glitzy equivalent to the Emmy awards or other red carpet events, as a platform to challenge women to improve their hair in the fortnight leading up to ASK, and engage with information about how to improve hair quality. The campaign created a microsite, online banners, and social media pages related to the ASK challenge; it also sponsored related TV content, and started a contest to find women who could improve their hair within 14 days. As evidence of the success of the approach, this case study cites results including rising website traffic, free media coverage and increased sales for the brand.

15

Philips: Semangat 2011

Includes video content

Recommended by Warc editors

Trends

Best Practice

Shervin Seah, Warc Prize for Asian Strategy, Entrant, 2011

This campaign for Philips Indonesia leveraged social media, especially Twitter, to drive traffic to the company's recently-launched new consumer products website, to reframe Philips as the brand advocate for the personal well-being category. View Summary

This campaign for Philips Indonesia leveraged social media, especially Twitter, to drive traffic to the company's recently-launched new consumer products website, to reframe Philips as the brand advocate for the personal well-being category. Semangat 2011 (meaning "Happy New Me") encouraged Indonesians to tweet their New Year resolutions and win Philips products as prizes. Within nine days, the campaign increased traffic to the newly-launched Philips.co.id website (495% increase in page views; 45% increase in visits; 299% increase in page views/visits). It also received 12,945 contest submissions, exceeding the target by 62%.

16

Intel and HP: Make IT Happen

Includes video content

Recommended by Warc editors

Trends

Best Practice

Warc Prize for Asian Strategy, Entrant, 2011

IT managers were reluctant to adopt new IT solutions in post-recession Asia. In response, HP and Intel joined forces for the "Make IT Happen" campaign, which broke the norms of B2B communications in order to drive awareness and adoption of their services. View Summary

IT managers were reluctant to adopt new IT solutions in post-recession Asia. In response, HP and Intel joined forces for the "Make IT Happen" campaign, which broke the norms of B2B communications in order to drive awareness and adoption of their services. The big idea was to entertain IT managers by presenting "The Adventures of Harper ? Make IT Happen", which included an online video comedy series and comics. The stories of Harper, a fictitious IT professional, attracted more than 1.3 million unique visitors to the campaign website and a high download rate of content of 5.93% on average. The campaign achieved an ROI of 1:6 - the equivalent of 20,000 business PCs.

17

Hero Honda: Come back to hockey

Includes video content

Recommended by Warc editors

Trends

Best Practice

Shubhrojyoti Roy, Warc Prize for Asian Strategy, Entrant, 2011

Hero Honda, a youth-centric motorbike brand, wanted to connect to the Indian Youth. To this end, the brand decided to revive hockey as a sponsor of a major hockey event. View Summary

Hero Honda, a youth-centric motorbike brand, wanted to connect to the Indian Youth. To this end, the brand decided to revive hockey as a sponsor of a major hockey event. Hockey was seen as a sport Indian parents had played and loved. Hockey didn't have the stars that the young emulate/aspire to be. It had no idols and faced a nation glued to cricket. A multimedia campaign, including celebrity endorsement and grassroots activity, led to a surge in interest in the sport and a new brand platform for Hero Honda.

In 2009, the personal loan category grew 8% year-on-year in Singapore. But James, GE Money's specialist personal loan unit, was in decline, down just over 3% from the year before. View Summary

In 2009, the personal loan category grew 8% year-on-year in Singapore. But James, GE Money's specialist personal loan unit, was in decline, down just over 3% from the year before. This paper demonstrates how insightful and challenging communications helped turn decline into unlikely growth. By reframing James' existing 'flexibility' product feature into a powerful 'anti-bank' brand proposition, the brand created a positioning suitable for the post-financial crisis era. This was communicated through print and outdoor advertising in particular. As a result, James turned a 3% decline in 2009 into 45% growth in 2010.

As one of the last players to go national in India's telecom sector, Aircel faced a colossal task of not only differentiating itself, but also grabbing shares from the four large leader brands. View Summary

As one of the last players to go national in India's telecom sector, Aircel faced a colossal task of not only differentiating itself, but also grabbing shares from the four large leader brands. In an effort to stand out, the market was already cluttered with VAS (value-added services) offerings and battles over tariff plans, new products, network strength and service provision. Therefore, as a fresh entrant, while VAS posed an interesting market opportunity for Aircel, it was no new news in the market. This case study is a story of how Aircel successfully repositioned and democratised internet access via mobile, by rephrasing the advantage of internet on mobile with a unique product, pricing and nomenclature strategy. Aircel unique data users moved up from 40,000 to 4.5 million in 1.5 years.

20

McDonald's: "Let's Meet Up" campaign

Includes video content

Recommended by Warc editors

Trends

Best Practice

Ellen Hou, Warc Prize for Asian Strategy, Shortlisted, 2011

Every summer the leading fast food brands in China make huge investments in communications, cluttering the market with new products, exotic flavours and celebrities to attract their primary target audience, youth. View Summary

Every summer the leading fast food brands in China make huge investments in communications, cluttering the market with new products, exotic flavours and celebrities to attract their primary target audience, youth. This campaign changed the brief by shifting the objective from attracting the target audience to new products to instead making McDonald's a summer destination. The brand decided to look at the lifestyle of its audience to understand how to make McDonald's relevant and engaging to youth. The insight was that 'realness' is missing in social networks, and McDonald's encouraged people to discover the 'realness' in a relationship through meeting up. The campaign involved a collaboration with social network Xiaonei.com.

Despite Bangkok Airways using the positioning of "Asia's Boutique Airline" for 10 years, consumers did not know what it really meant and perceived the brand as just another low-cost airline in an era of industry-wide cost-cutting. View Summary

Despite Bangkok Airways using the positioning of "Asia's Boutique Airline" for 10 years, consumers did not know what it really meant and perceived the brand as just another low-cost airline in an era of industry-wide cost-cutting. However, Bangkok Airways used an alternative approach to justify the value of its brand positioning: "Feel Different. Fly Extraordinary". This tapped into the emerging trend of young travellers' insights and the discovery of local culture. The new brand promise - supported by offering online seat reservations, a boutique departure lounge and full meal on every flight - was amplified through distinctive brand thinking and communications. This was led by three movie-like commercials from young, aspiring directors. It was the only airline that grew in 2010 without using a low-pricing strategy.

Taiwan has the highest membership card circulation in the world. On average, each Taiwanese resident owns 18 such cards. View Summary

Taiwan has the highest membership card circulation in the world. On average, each Taiwanese resident owns 18 such cards. PX Mart's loyalty card used to be one of those that sits at home without much usage. The PX Mart Card was positioned as an upgraded savings card, since the merchant was always 15%-20% cheaper than its competitors. If customers took advantage of the discounted price, plus the 0.3% cash reward from the membership card programme, the saving was quite significant, making the customers the smartest shoppers. TV ads not only enhanced PX Mart's brand value and positioning, but also created substantial sales revenue. PX Mart achieved overall business growth of 21.3% and store traffic increased 28.6%. PX Mart Card members contributed to 81.9% of sales revenue and PX Mart Card's new card circulation increased by 66%, from three million to five million.

23

McDonald's: The Hunt for Dim Jack

Includes video content

Recommended by Warc editors

Trends

Best Practice

Amie Chan, Warc Prize for Asian Strategy, Entrant, 2011

This campaign for McDonald's in Hong Kong, the restaurant chain's most penetrated and mature market, aimed to inject sales growth into its Chicken McNuggests, a menu staple of 20 years. View Summary

This campaign for McDonald's in Hong Kong, the restaurant chain's most penetrated and mature market, aimed to inject sales growth into its Chicken McNuggests, a menu staple of 20 years.

It targeted young adults between the ages of 18 and 25 and focused on the taste and the ritual of dipping them in sauces.

The idea was brought to life through the creation of two characters: Dim Jack, who breaks the law to fulfill his obsession with McNuggets, and Officer Mak, a heroic officer determined to catch him.

A social media campaign encouraged consumers to report sightings of the characters around Hong Kong, as part of the "Catch Dim Jack" investigation.

Traditional media were only introduced once the campaign had reach a critical mass through online buzz.

The campaign exceeded sales targets by 26%, and year-on-year profits on the promotion of McNuggets' increased by 64%.

24

YourSingapore.com - A tourism campaign for the digital age

Includes video content

Recommended by Warc editors

Trends

Best Practice

Fredrik Sarnblad, Warc Prize for Asian Strategy, Entrant, 2011

In the fight to attract tourists, the Singapore tourism campaign - 'Uniquely Singapore' - had become undifferentiated; the category had started to conform to a set of unwritten rules. View Summary

In the fight to attract tourists, the Singapore tourism campaign - 'Uniquely Singapore' - had become undifferentiated; the category had started to conform to a set of unwritten rules. And in an increasingly digital world, the traditional tourism marketing approach of the past would not be the answer for the future. This paper demonstrates how a (global) media insight into category channel behaviour, and an Asian consumer insight into Singapore's unique appeal to Asian tourists, successfully helped the Singapore Tourism Board unlock its opportunity to create a tourism brand for the digital age. The 'YourSingapore.com' campaign helped increase website visits by 133% and ultimately visitor arrivals to Singapore by 29.7% year-on-year. And for the first time ever, visitor arrivals to Singapore exceeded one million within a single month (July and December, 2010).

Fubon Commercial Bank's credit card was ranked number three in Taiwan in late 2009, lagging well behind Citibank after its highly successful 2008 promotions to drive card usage. View Summary

Fubon Commercial Bank's credit card was ranked number three in Taiwan in late 2009, lagging well behind Citibank after its highly successful 2008 promotions to drive card usage. Fubon was struggling to achieve "active rate" growth (defined as any card usage in the previous six months) in a cluttered card market. The bank revamped its dining offers and the agency created a fresh social media-based launch approach in the category. The "Fubon Food Master Community" tapped into social media insights about Taiwanese diners and became a more relevant platform for informing customers about Fubon's dining offers, and allowed them to build and share their dining experiences online. The campaign drove the Fubon card's active rate up by six percentage points compared with a year earlier, moving Fubon into second position. Fubon cardholder spending on dining grew US$6m per month, generating incremental interest and fee income for Fubon.